Chapter 15 - THE CHAIN OF COMMAND
Ten minutes later, the avenue outside the Carter residence was flooded with a blinding sea of flashing red-and-blue police lights.
Four sheriff’s cruisers, an emergency medical unit, and an unmarked federal sedan blocked the street. Deputies moved through the ground floor, securing the three unconscious intruders in heavy steel handcuffs and wheeling them out to transport vans.
Detective Raymond Vance—a senior investigator from the county prosecutor’s office—stood in the living room, taking the black encrypted drive from Ethan's hand.
"We picked up Vanessa Reed twenty minutes ago at an private airfield three miles outside town," Detective Vance informed Ethan, his tone filled with grave respect. "She was trying to board a chartered flight to Grand Cayman. When her associates failed to check in from your residence, she panicked."
Ethan stood near the fireplace, a white bandage wrapped neatly around his left palm. He watched as the deputies cleared the broken glass from the kitchen patio.
"The drive contains the full ledger," Ethan said, his blue-gray eyes steady. "Every shell company, every wire transfer, and the forged debt documents she used to terrorize my sister before her death."
"It's more than enough to put her away for thirty years, Mr. Carter," Vance said, closing his notepad. "Between the forensic medical report on your daughter, the breaking-and-entering charges, and this financial trail... Vanessa Reed will never see the outside of a federal penitentiary."
From the top of the stairs, small footsteps tapped softly against the carpet.
Lily came walking down slowly, wearing her pale-yellow dress, clutching her stuffed rabbit tightly against her chest. Noah walked right beside her, holding her hand with protective pride.
Ethan turned away from the detective, dropping down on one knee at the bottom of the stairs.
May you like
Lily ran the last three steps and threw her tiny arms around Ethan's neck, burying her face into his olive-green Henley. Noah stepped up beside them, wrapping his arms around his father's broad shoulder.
Ethan pulled both of his children tight against his chest, closing his eyes as the golden morning sunlight began to break over the horizon, washing away the shadows of the long night.
